Surely the most pragmatic approach is to accept that both sides have to share blame. Extended bouts of hot air and finger pointing isn't going to help or change anything.
The situation the CTC cadets are in is the very definition of get-there-itis. The more they spend, the harder it is to walk away. A rational decision becomes an irrational, destinctive, one. The big players involved know this and are exploiting it.
In the end, entering a course such as this is a gamble. It was a gamble back then and it's a gamble now. If you've saved up your £100k or whatever, you've taken a big gamble with your own money. If you borrowed it, you've taken a big gamble with someone else's money. To try and pretend otherwise is daft. Sometimes the gamble pays off, sometimes it doesn't. That's why it's a gamble.
It's a big bad world out there and naive young people have always been exploited (and always will be).